Ambrosia visibly hesitated.
I had just sprung this question on her, and honestly, I expected an almost immediate no. When, instead, Amby began to think this through, I was surprised—and curious. Although I rarely did it, this time I listened in.
I barely had to focus to hear all the numerous thoughts in Amby’s head.
’The ceremony is going to be held in human territory, since nobody wants to bring this many humans to the heart of the Bee Empire. It’s bad enough that Necty will have to travel all this distance. Entire weeks might pass before he can return home... And if I go with him, it will be the same for me. Managing the Empire won’t be easy for us already with Nectus alone leaving...’
As I watched and listened to Amby’s doubts, an idea struck me. I flew even closer to Amby and took her hand in mine, ignoring the puzzled gazes of the surrounding bees.
’Amby, but if you come with me, we will be together all this time! And, you know, *together*,’ I messaged, breaking into her thoughts. ’It will be like a vacation where we can see distant places, try their food and have sex in places we never had sex in before!’
Ambrosia stared at me in shock and astonishment.
’Mate? Outside of the hive! That’s... Hm. Hm!’
Emotions switched on her face. Astonishment became a deep thoughtfulness, which grew more and more lustful by the moment. Whatever was in Ambrosia’s head at that moment, I couldn’t tell despite actively trying to hear it—which meant that her thoughts were all images. From the look of her, they were awfully lewd, too.
And probably included a lot, a *lot* of eggs being laid. Which wasn’t something I had thought about until now.
’I can lay eggs in the sub-hives standing in the Naregan Kingdom,’ she messaged, answering the question that just formed in my head. ’Of course, it won’t be the same as laying my eggs in my own hive. But the entire Bee Empire is our colony, so does it really matter? The Queens of these sub-hives will probably complain, but I know how to convince them to take good care of our daughters. Or they show their smarts and realize that they have been given a great boon.’
I smiled fondly and patted Ambrosia’s head.
’Ah, you always think about having more daughters first... So you are coming with me?’
She nodded seriously and replied aloud,
"Yes, Nectus. It will make our administrative work much more complicated, but this way we won’t stop making progeny while we are away."
"Oh, and you don’t want to see new places at all? Look at the best of human cities? Or nature in places beyond the Bee Empire?"
Ambrosia wrinkled her nose.
"You are such a homebody–it’s adorable... But maybe I will convince you that things aren’t so bad outside of Hive Supremo yet!"
This required careful preparations, of course.
Nectus II was going to travel to the place of the ceremony—the Naregan capital city—first on foot, then on a ship. By the time the mecha will reach its destination, the invited kings of other protectorates will have time to reach the city, too. And Farini, together with the bees living near him, will have the time to prepare for the grand ceremony.
To spend less time outside of Hive Supremo, Ambrosia and I were going to travel to the ceremony on dragons and arrive just a couple of days before it.
This meant that although Nectus II had already begun its journey in the company of Tamsha—who was going to travel all the way to the capital—I and Amby still had at least a week to prepare.
I was used to the wind blowing in my face and other general discomforts of traversing long distances on dragons, but Amby was not.
With this in mind, I went to Things-Things and gave her a special crafting order.
"I need a saddle for a dragon. It must be a closed one, like a tiny house that can be strapped to a dragon’s back and protect the people inside from the wind and cold. I want Amby to be comfortable inside of it, yeah? And have soft pillows nailed to all its walls..."
Things-Things gasped and waved with two hands while using the other two to cover her mouth.
"Ah, Father, I was so silly-stupid! I should’ve done this before, yes-yes—for you! There’s a week until you have to leave, right? It will be done! A saddle-house for the best and tamest dragon we have that will carry our Mother-Queen... Wait, which one is this?"
I scratched my cheek, thinking.
We had a lot of them by now. Some were raised by us from eggs, some kidnapped—ahem, *found*—as chicks, some tamed as adults. The eggs-reared ones were usually the most obedient, but...
"One of the first ones. Scourge, Disaster, or Woe," I said. "They are lazy and greedy bastards, but they are very smart for dragons. Some of the smartest ones we have, probably! And they have gotten used to bees a lot. I think any of them can be trusted to carry Amby."
Things-Things nodded so energetically that I feared for her neck.
"Yes-yes, Father! My sisters and I will make the saddle-house from the lightest wood so that the dragon can carry it, and put the softest pillows inside! And we will make it the prettiest saddle-house there is!"
"Just make it comfortable first. The decorations are really secondary in these circumstances," I said.
"Sure-sure, Father! The softest pillows with the softest feathers of the softest lizards..."
I left Things-Things at that, made a mental note to send an Attendant to make sure the result of her work was *actually* comfortable, and returned to other preparations.
The Empire had to be as ready for our leave as I and Amby had to be ready to leave.
A great vacation-adventure-ceremony was waiting for us!